The oil cooler does have the two stickers that it should have. The radiator shroud appears to have had stickers as it looks like where they would have been placed has not lightened up as much as the surrounding area. The coolant jug looks new, at that age and mileage the bottle usually has turned a little toward the light orange color. I would check the hose clamps on the coolant system. You see any worm drives on there, repairs were made by the owner or a shop that does not know BMW/Minis.

As far removing the air box/ecu to check the ground strap, anybody that works on Minis can do that in 5 minutes.

 

Hopefully the dealership I bring it to for the PPI can check it all out for me.

 

Bad news dealership is fully booked and I can not bring in the car for a PPI. They won't let me bring it to MINI of Baltimore since there is only one person working, and it's too far from the dealership. I asked to see if they can put the car on the lift tomorrow, so I can have a good look.

 

Any update?

 

I ended up not getting it. I couldn't get over the fact that the front end of the car had work done. They wouldn't go any lower on their price, so I just walked away. With the mileage on the car, I was expecting a cleaner looking car.

 

How many 48,000 mile MINI's haven't had work done to them? I don't know the car or the dealer but it would seem reasonable to assume that the car was put in "service mode". Who knows? Maybe a new radiator or to replace the A/C condenser or fix a leaky crank sensor O-Ring. How many 2006 MINIs have had this same kind of work done? Plenty. How many coolant reservoir bottles have been replaced? Plenty. The car is back on eBay with a BIN and "Make Offer". If I were serious about it, I'd bring my own tools and do my own PPI or bring someone who could do one.

 

Putting the car in to service mode doesn't require replacing the core support. My car has over 111k miles and still on original radiator and condenser. I gave him my offer they wouldn't accept, so I walked away.